Poyntz Avenue Prairieway

Drawing from Manhattan's past to imagine a more connected future.

What’s the best way to walk or bike to Downtown Manhattan? If you’re setting out from K-State campus, Aggieville, or City Park, your route downtown will likely take you along Poyntz Avenue. With only 1.25 miles between these three Manhattan landmarks, walking and biking along Poyntz Avenue should be a viable option. However, the fastest route downtown comes with its own set of drawbacks.

Between City Park and Downtown Manhattan, people walking or using wheelchairs face narrow sidewalks with uneven pavement. People cycling must navigate high traffic speeds and parked cars. For many active transportation users, the proximity to the 75’ wide roadway feels exposed and uncomfortable. Deterred by the fast-moving traffic on Poyntz, you might opt instead to make the trip in your car – or to forego it entirely.

Current conditions near the 900 block of Poyntz Avenue. *Images courtesy of Google Street View.*

Fundamentally, the section of Poyntz Avenue between City Park and Juliette Avenue doesn’t feel connected to the rest of downtown. But what if the route downtown were changed to feel safer and more comfortable? What if the experience of the trip mattered as much as the destination?

The Poyntz Avenue Prairieway is a proposed multi-use path to better connect Downtown Manhattan with City Park, Aggieville, and the K-State campus. Based on historic infrastructure and connections in Manhattan, the Prairieway would make Poyntz Avenue safer, more inviting, and more comfortable for cyclists, pedestrians, and other active transportation users. The goals of the project are as follows:

Improve mobility between Downtown Manhattan and other core areas: City Park, Aggieville, and the K-State campus.
Implement traffic-calming strategies (including a road diet, pedestrian islands, and curb extensions) to make travel downtown safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Design an aesthetically pleasing and cohesive route downtown with measures for comfort, safety, and accessibility.
Use green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) plantings to infiltrate stormwater and mitigate existing drainage problems.

One hundred years ago, approximately 10,500 residents lived in Manhattan. Enrollment at Kansas State Agricultural College, the predecessor of Kansas State University, was roughly 3,500 students. Construction had begun on the Wareham Hotel, today one of the most iconic buildings in Manhattan.

Though Manhattan’s population and land area have both grown substantially since the early 20^th century, many of the city’s core districts are recognizable today.

KSAC’s campus shares the same southeastern boundary as today’s K-State campus. Aggieville (after KSAC’s original “Aggies” nickname) was a bustling retail district between KSAC and City Park. Downtown Manhattan held many of the city’s commercial, governmental, and financial buildings - in addition to retail shopping, hotels, and a movie house.

Manhattan in the 1920s, showing personal automobiles coexisting with the streetcar line. *Image courtesy of WorthPoint.*

Though the physical distance between these districts remains the same today, Manhattan’s four core areas were arguably better connected a hundred years ago – largely thanks to public transit. The City of Manhattan constructed a sophisticated streetcar system in 1908, which linked KSAC, Aggieville, City Park, and Downtown until 1927. Manhattan was one of the smallest Kansas towns to construct a streetcar system.

By the time the streetcar system reached its peak use in the 1920s, six motor cars ran throughout Manhattan along four miles of track. Streetcars would stop every ten minutes to pick off and drop off passengers, who could also connect to Junction City and the Fort Riley military installation via an interurban railway.

Manhattan City & Interurban Rail Car, circa 1910. *Image courtesy of Enscore et al.*

The streetcar line was discontinued in 1927, largely due to the increased prevalence of personal automobiles. With urban development trending more suburban after World War II, Poyntz Avenue was widened for car traffic. The stretches of parkland along Poyntz Avenue, shown here in green, were also removed.

In 2024, Manhattan is home to nearly 54,000 people – over 4 times as many as in 1925. Kansas State University’s enrollment is now just shy of 20,000 students.

Even after a century of growth and change, Downtown, Aggieville, City Park, and the K-State campus are still active areas in Manhattan today. These core zones remain a major draw for visitors from all over the Flint Hills region and beyond.

While the streetcar once provided an easy connection between City Park and Downtown Manhattan, there is no such connection today. Instead, pedestrians and cyclists who opt to walk downtown face several obstacles along Poyntz Avenue.

Some of these barriers include:

Wide road
Busy traffic
Uneven sidewalk

Implementing a greenway and multi-use path between 11th St and Juliette Ave would greatly improve connectivity between Downtown Manhattan and City Park. The proposed greenway, the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway, would improve pedestrian safety by implementing traffic calming measures, including reducing the width of the road.

Installing the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway would complete a pedestrian corridor from K-State campus all the way to Downtown.

The Flint Hills MPO has prepared two example options for the design of a Poyntz Avenue Prairieway. Both options leverage the planned Poyntz Avenue road diet, which has been in development since 2010 and was added to FHMPO's Long-Range Transportation Plan in 2015. The road diet would narrow Poyntz from five lanes to three. Rather than keeping the unused right-of-way on both sides of the road, the space would then be consolidated and utilized by the Prairieway on the north side of the road, as shown in the following graphic.

Extension of City Park

Bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to access Poyntz from all five of the streets intersecting the greenway.

One possible way to limit through traffic while keeping local access would be restricting vehicle access to Poyntz. Vehicles would still be able to access Poyntz Avenue from Juliette Avenue and 11th Street.

The shortened streets proposed here would be similar to some existing street layouts in Manhattan. Two examples of streets where vehicle access is similarly restricted are: 1) along Ft Riley Blvd between 5th St and MLK Jr Drive, as well as 2) 4th St between Bluemont Ave and Ft Riley Blvd.

Option 1: Greenway with Ornamental Trees

This option locates the multi-use path in the middle of the Prairieway, creating two smaller planting areas. Smaller trees provide less shade, but allow for more diverse planting options between the trees. Sun-loving pollinator gardens could be integrated into the greenway, showcasing Kansas native plants and fostering habitat for native insects and birds.

Perspective and plan-view illustrations of the first option are shown below.

900 block Poyntz Avenue, looking west toward City Park.

Current streetview and proposed Poyntz Prairieway.

900 block Poyntz Avenue, looking east toward Downtown.

Existing streetview and proposed Poyntz Avenue Prairieway.

Juliette Avenue to 8th Street (plan view)

Option 2: Greenway with Parallel Parking & Shade Trees

By placing the multi-use path along the public right-of-way boundary, a larger continuous planting can be created. Large canopy trees would add comfort and shade along a part of Poyntz that currently feels overly exposed. Gardens of hardy, shade-tolerant plants create additional separation between the road and people traveling along the multi-use path. With a wider, more secluded greenway, this option evokes the strips of parkland that lined Poyntz during the days of the streetcar line.

Perspective and plan-view illustrations of this option are shown below.

Current street view and proposed Poyntz Avenue Prairieway.

The following tables and graphics provide a simplified overview of FHMPO's two options for the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway. Each of the two Poyntz Prairieway options offers the same amount of space for the right-of-way, but how the space is used is slightly different.

	Multi-use path (MUP)	Ornamental trees	Shade trees	Three-lane road w/ center turn lane	Increased parking	Raised table crossings on MUP
Option 1	X	X		X	X	X
Option 2	X		X	X	X

Option 1: Small Trees and Native Grasses.

In the first option, the trail splits the right-of-way, providing room for planted areas on either side.

In the second option for the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway, the trail is located on the far northern end of the right-of-way, leaving more space for larger shade trees.

Precedent: Indianapolis Cultural Trail

One precedent for the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway is the Indianapolis Cultural Trail in Indianapolis, IN. The Cultural Trail is an 8-mile greenway and multi-use path connecting some of Indianapolis's major neighborhoods with surrounding destinations, including arts districts and sports/entertainment venues.

Image courtesy of Walk Indianapolis.

As the Poyntz Avenue Prairieway aims to do in Manhattan, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail bridges the gaps between each place to create a vibrant, cohesive pedestrian corridor.

Image courtesy of Steven Litt.

Recommendation: Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Curb extensions reduce the distance pedestrians have to cross to reach the other side of the street. They also encourage drivers to make slower turns. Installing planted curb extensions on the Poyntz Avenue Greenway would improve safety, help reduce runoff, infiltrate stormwater. For more information and more detailed recommendations, visit the NACTO website here .

Sources

Susan I. Enscore, J. Webster, & Edward E. Hooker. Historical and Architectural Documentation of the Interurban Trolley Bridge at Three Mile Creek, Fort Riley, Kansas.

Riley County Historical Society. Manhattan, Kansas Survey.

National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Urban Street Stormwater Guide.